Sports drinks have been developed to assist with the losses of various nutritional components during physical activity. The nutritional components may include sugars, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and proteins. Physical activity includes not only exercise and sports by healthy individuals, but may also include any activity where important nutrients are lost, such as work by factory or farm workers, activity by chronically ill patients, living in harsh conditions such as in the tropics or in the desert, and so forth.
Following exercise, replenishing the lost water and nutrients has been the goal of a few decades of sports drink research. Nutritional intervention to achieve maximum muscle recovery has been primarily directed toward restoration of fluid and electrolytes or the replenishment of muscle glycogen stores. Muscle recovery depends on four major factors, namely, restoration of fluid and electrolytes, replenishment of muscle glycogen, reduction of oxidative and muscle stress, and rebuilding and repair of muscle protein damaged.
Typically marketed sports drinks contain sugars and electrolytes. Some examples of the sugars contained in the sports drinks include sucrose, glucose, or fructose. Typical electrolytes include sodium salts, potassium salts, and chloride salts.